Corporations have a long history of exploiting natural resources – the earth's body – to make their profits. Think global warming. Think strip mining.
The drug companies are exploiting another resource:
Women's bodies.
Drug-manufacturer Merck, for example, is capitalizing on women's susceptibility to cervical cancer.
Merck has waged a nationwide campaign to make its Gardasil vaccine mandatory for sixth-grade girls. The company has lobbied state legislators to make 11- and 12-year-old girls ineligible to attend school unless they've received the vaccine's three doses.
Why bother creating consumer demand for a drug with limited effectiveness when you can bypass the illusion of free enterprise and free choice?
Why bother creating consumer demand for a drug with limited effectiveness when you can use the government to enforce it?
The company recently suspended its campaign in response to parents' and medical groups' objections. But not before the campaign had made its mark. And not before its questionable practices had come to light.
Continued, with links to updates, at lisasarasohn.com/gardasil.
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
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6 comments:
thanks for such an informative post, i heard of Guardasil but was not aware that they were trying to make it mandatory for girls from 6th grade. That is absolutely terrible,
I am so tired of the drug industry pushing things on people all in the name of money.
I am not one to jump on the drug bandwagon, and feel things should be well worth it before I risk the dangers from using any drugs.
I do hope that we as americans can step forward and keep this from happening, this should be a choice not mandatory, how horrible that someone would force me to take a drug I dont want!!!
thanks for all the info. I will keep my eyes on this battle.
Thanks so much for expressing your concern!
I just wrote to the two women who've introduced a Gardasil-promotion bill in the North Carolina state senate.
I'll include the text of my message below. Feel free to copy for your own uses!
If you want to write your legislators, you can go to http://www.ncsl.org/programs/health/HPVvaccine.htm#hpvlegis
If there's a bill listed for your state, you can click on the link that takes you to the text of the bill.
Then, if the bill's sponsors are listed, you can get their email address from the website for your state legislature.
Here's what I wrote to the NC legislators:
Dear (name),
Congratulations on your election to the legislature, and I wish you continuing success in serving the citizens of (state).
Are you a member of the "Women in Government" group, comprised of female state legislators across the country, which operates with funding from Merck, the New Jersey-based drug manufacturer?
I see that you and (other name) have sponsored (name of bill), titled "(bill's title)."
At this time, Merck's Gardasil is the only vaccine on the market which addresses the prevention of cervical cancer. Since your bill would effectively enlist schools in promoting the sale of Gardasil--the most expensive vaccine ever developed--would you please answer the following questions for me?
1. Gardasil protects against 2 of about 19 types of HPV that can cause cervical cancer (source: Prophylactic human papillomavirus vaccines, Journal of Clinical Investigation. 2006 May;116(5):1167-73). We've seen how the widespread use of antibiotics has allowed for the mutation and proliferation of pathogens that are resistant to antibiotics.
Question: Won't the use of Gardasil open the way for the other 17 types of HPV to become all the more active in causing cervical cancer?
2. The duration of immunity that Gardasil provides is unknown (source: Merck's prescribing information data sheet, page 5). The initial vaccination may provide its limited immunity for four or five years (source: Sustained efficacy up to 4.5 years of a bivalent L1 virus-like particle vaccine against human papillomavirus types 16 and 18: follow-up from a randomised control trial, Lancet. 2006 Apr 15;367(9518):1247-55).
Question: If girls and young women choose to receive the Gardasil vaccine, how often will they need additional injections of Gardasil to maintain the limited immunity that this vaccine does provide?
3. Each dose of the Gardasil vaccine contains "approximately 225 mcg of aluminum (as amorphous aluminum hydroxyphosphate sulfate adjuvant)" (source: Merck's prescribing information data sheet, page 1). Aluminum is known to be toxic to the nervous system (source: Fact Sheet: Aluminum and Alzheimer's Disease, Alzheimer’s Association, June 20, 2002.)
Question: How will Gardasil affect girls' intellects and their performance in school?
4. Merck faces huge losses due to damages linked to two of its other drugs, Vioxx and Fosamax.
Question: How many doses of Gardasil does Merck have to sell to recoup its losses?
5. Boys and men are asymptomatic carriers of HPV. They're susceptible to HPV-induced penile cancer as well.
Question: Why isn't Gardasil a required vaccination for boys and men?
6. Using condoms during sexual activity would protect girls against all types of HPV-induced cervical cancer.
Question: What kind of education and incentives would ensure that all boys use condoms during sexual activity?
Question: What would the cost savings of using condoms be as compared with vaccinating girls with Gardasil?
7. Vaccines are vulnerable to contamination as they're manufactured.
Question: How can Merck guarantee the Gardasil vaccine is free from contamination?
Here's an excample of vaccine contamination: In August 2004, Chiron, the British company manufacturing flu vaccine for the United States market, discovered bacterial contamination in 10% of its doses. Subsequently, the U.S. FDA's inspection found "significant deficiencies in quality control and concerns regarding the test results. Although Chiron's retesting of the unaffected lots of vaccine has been negative for contamination, FDA has determined that it cannot adequately assure the sterility of these lots to our safety standards" (source: 2004 Chiron Flu Vaccine Chronology, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, http://www.fda.gov/oc/opacom/hottopics/chronology1016.html).
I look forward to your response.
I just want to speak my mind about your opinion and my opinion. As a female who has always practiced safe sex and still contracted a strain of HPV, I think this new drug is an important breakthrough.
What I do not understand is why people think that their daughters will think it is the only STD out there and all of a sudden become permiscuious. I think education about everything is the answer. Educate about the vaccine, std's, safe sex, etc.
Do I think the vaccine should be mandatory...not sure yet. Obviously there needs to be more testing and research into the length of effctivity and side effects. But how much worse would you feel if you were so against this vaccine, and then your daughter contracts one of the strains that she could have been protected against? I would feel horrible.
I understand the one side of Merck losing it's good name and trying to rebuild itself by pushing Gardasil, but try to see the good it can do. If I were young enough, and knowing what I do about HPV, I would be knocking down my OB/GYN's door. But that's just my opinion.
Thanks so much for your comment.
Indeed, even condoms offer only partial protection with respect to HPV-induced cervical cancer. According to Denise Grady's article, "A Vital Discussion, Clouded," published in the New York Times on March 6, 2007:
"Intercourse seems to be the best way to transmit [the HPV viruses], but any type of genital contact increases the risk, and condoms offer only partial protection because skin beyond the condom may be teeming with the virus. Much of the time, the viruses cause no problems, and people don’t even know they’re infected."
Strengthening our immune systems would add to our health all around.
See http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/06/health/06seco.html for the full text of Denise Grady's article.
Hi girls, was just looking up some information about the guardasil and came across your conversation about them making it mandatory for school children. Let me start out by saying that I just received my first injection about a week ago. I am 19 years old. Cancer runs very high in my family and when u see the commercial ad thats pretty much all it talks about is "preventing cervical cancer" so of course I thought this was a great thing. However, i've never felt so sick in my life after taking this shot. I've been dizzy, and had a real shortness of breath which is scary. I tried to research the web for some more side effects but since this is such a new thing it's hard to find!
Either way i've about made up my mind that I will not be getting another injection because of the side effects and some of the things i've learned through the web. In my opinion it needs more time to be tested. It seems that my generation is the "guinea pig" for this. If it works, it's a great thing. But all it is doing right now is making me feel awful. If you think you might want to get this for your daughter, I suggest researching before. I wish I had paid more attention to the side effects.
Thanks so much for telling us about your experience--and I'm so sorry the side-effects have taken their toll.
I've forwarded your anonymous comment to a member of North Carolina's state legislature where, unfortunately, S.B. 260 (Companion: H.B.938) passed the Legislature and was sent to the Governor.
With the Governor's signature, this law will require the Department of Health to distribute information on the HPV and the vaccine through schools to all parents of children in grades five through 12.
Given your experience, I added this comment: How much will the taxpayers be spending to alleviate these and other side-effects of this drug being marketed by state government for the pharmaceutical companies?
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